Leader rotates chest again. Lady steps back onto rightand ganchos with left. The lady does not lean on the leader during the ganchobut supports her own weightand her upper body is straight and still

DT: Is there any difference to you in doing it right to left rather than left to left?

Andrew:
Right to left actually is the easier one to do. If we give the follower a left to left parada ask the follower to step over our left, then it's harder.

When we lead a
gancho through our right leg we are closer and it's easier for the follower to do the
gancho. When we lead it through our left leg the follower is more away from us
and we have to adjust our left arm and put it more out in front of us rather than to
the side where we should keep it standard. And we also have to let up on our right arm
on the follower's back so we invite her across and we give her the room to stand
back up on her right foot to execute a gancho on her leg.

DT: As she is stepping over you are rotating her at the same time. In other words, when her foot
is in the air coming over your leg, you turn her. Is that right?

Andrew: Right. The answer is yes. We do turn her because we are leading her to step
across the front of us. We don't necessarily have to do a gancho there, we could
go right into a grapevine or center up and walk to the cross. So the lead for
stepping over our foot comes from turning her chest and following through. This
also makes sure the follower takes a good full step across the front of us so when
we lead her back over to do the gancho she is in the proper position.

DT: Center up means...?

Andrew: Collection, so you can walk out.

DT: If a lady is not going to do the gancho correctly, what's the most likely thing she'll be
doing?

Andrew: She will either be twisting her body too much, sitting down on the standing leg or
leaning back throwing her shoulders back when she is doing the gancho. The most
dangerous one is bending the knee and flipping the knee up rather than pushing the
thigh against the leader's thigh and letting it snap at the knee. In other words, they
just bend at the knee and that's when the followers kick us in the shin.

DT: Kana, for the followers what is the most common mistake in ganchoing?

Kana: Often ladies prematurely do gancho before shifting weight completely to the front leg.

DT: Ok, for those times when it is 200% certain that there is no risk of kicking someone else, how should the lady avoid kicking her partner? I notice that at the same time Andrew leads the gancho by turning the upper body, he bends his knee to make room for the gancho.

Kana: You are right about turning the torso. That lead the gancho.

DT: What happens if the gentleman does not turn the torso, would you just stand there?

Kana: There won’t be a good gancho without that.

DT: Do you ever get verbal leads? Has a gentleman ever whispered to you “gancho” or “calecita now”?

Kana: I try to tell everybody, gentlemen and ladies, that if you ever have to speak, you don’t know how to lead. So don’t talk. You have to able to lead without any verbal command.

DT: Kana, how much are you leaning on Andrew during the gancho? If he were suddenly to let go, would you be standing or would you fall?

Kana: I would be standing.

The Keys:

The leader has to adjust the left arm at the gancho because of his position relative to the follower. To lead the gancho, the leader must turn the torso. Ladies should take weight firmly on the standing leg before beginning the gancho.